Energy bills ‘so high we’ll switch off’

ENERGY prices are soaring so fast that Britons are on the brink of finding heating and lighting too costly to turn on.

Britons are on the brink of finding heating and lighting too costly to turn on. []

One in three households says fuel bills are already too expensive, a study by uSwitch.com reported yesterday. Bills for gas and electricity have gone up 21 per cent this year to an average £1,293 and since 2004 they have risen 147 per cent from £522. They are now dangerously close to the £1,500 point at which households cannot cope.

Ann Robinson, director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch, said: “This is a wake-up call. We are now just £207 away from hitting an affordability ceiling after which consumers will start rationing their usage as though they are living in the third world.”

Chancellor George Osborne this week signalled that he is ready to tear up £200billion green energy targets to protect the economy.